The Joe Schmo Show Returns! - The Anti-Reality Show

Oh, man, I'm so glad this show is back.

For those who don't know, back in 2003 Spike TV aired the first season of The Joe Schmo Show. It was a reality show competition where everything was fake except for one guy who thought it was real. And it was weird and funny and just great. It was awesome not just because of the novel concept, but because it wasn't mean. It wasn't a prank on the guy. They tried to find a genuinely nice guy and play this little trick on him and at the end he got money. It was never about making him look dumb or laughing at him. Also, the first season featured Kristen Wiig as one of the actors who went on to become a gigantic star.

They did a second season that was a parody of dating show and that was good too. They had two schmoes. The Jane Schmo ended up figuring it out. Then the show disappeared until.

Until now. After almost 10 years they brought the show back. Same concept. This time it's a bounty hunter based competition. It's awesome. It's crazier than ever, super funny, Lorenzo Lamas is a contestant, the elimination ceremonies involve a gigantic, gold Lady Justice statue that the contestants have to ask for permission to enter, there's a fake deaf lady with an interpreter. The best part is the return of Ralph Garman. He's been the host every season. The first season he was just a regular, kind of pompous guy. From there each season he's been put in costume and given a character. But he's always just a smug jerk.

It's not a well known show, so I wanted to give the folks here a heads up. They aired the first two episodes of the season tonight. I'm sure they'll re-run them quite a bit. it's worth checking out.